Advertising isn't typically thought of as a cultural movement, but after TSUBAKI's success in changing Japanese women's perspective on beauty, it's now much more relevant as a powerful medium.
Japanese cosmetic giant, Kao, released a shampoo series called Asience two years ago. Asience's message is similar to TSUBAKI's, but except for focusing on the beauty of Japanese women, Asience gives nods to Asian women in general. This campaign actually preceded TSUBAKI's, and airs in multiple Asian countries. It also carries the ambitious goal of marketing to an entire continent and aims to bring countries together under the umbrella of "Asian Beauty."
To do so, Asience hires continent-wide famous actresses or models to front the campaign. The first one to debut in Japan was the version starring Zhang Ziyi, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame.
Although I admire the message behind the campaign, and think its really important to unite different Asian cultures, I'm not particularly fond of the way Asience executed the ads. In terms of art direction, Asience comes across as a lot more cheesier than TSUBAKI. I mean, the fireworks at the end of the ad kind of say it all.
The latest Japanese ad features Korean movie star, Jun Ji Hyun, who found fame in Asia after starring in, My Sassy Girl, which is now considered a classic among Asian cinema fans.
Compared to TSUBAKI, the ad didn't reach much commercial success within Japan. However, the boldness of Kao to bring in Chinese and Korean stars to front their campaign locally is worth a great pat on the back, especially when politics between these countries still run high with tension.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment